The Burrow

A big thank you to Madbrilliant for her brilliant beta skills!

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Chapter 3 – The Burrow

The Weasley household was bustling with excitement in the week that led up to Christmas...

Everyone had been frantically trying to organize the big Order Christmas party for that year which was being held at Grimmauld Place because there were more spare rooms there to accommodate guests. Luckily, Harry and Ginny Potter had thought to renovate it in the first few months of their marriage so that it was quite livable and clean, free of the pests that had once inhabited it. Molly had been the main organizer, and everyone in the Order of the Phoenix had been invited. All of the guests had communicated their RSVP and were intending to come this year.

There was only one week left for her to finish organizing everything, and there was simply too much chaos in the house for her to be able to concentrate. Ginny had been over every day for the last two weeks helping with planning, but was currently upstairs putting baby Lily down for a nap. Arthur was still needed at the Ministry for another few days before he could help, and all she had was Fred, George, Percy, and Ron to help with the work – and they were too busy either lazing about or stuffing around.

Becoming frustrated with the childishness that she could hear in the other room, Molly's patience finally snapped. "Ronald, Frederick, George, and Percival – get your behinds into this room immediately!" she shouted.

The four of them appeared looking rather sheepish only moments later. It was Percy, however, who spoke first. "Honestly, Mother, you can't really say that you think I was cavorting around with this lot," he said with an exaggerated sigh. "I was cleaning the shelves."

"Oooh! Perfect little Percy never does anything wrong," George – or Fred teased, causing Percy's ears to flush pink.

"Don't be so immature, Fred," he snapped.

"How did you know I was Fred?" he asked, mouth hanging open.

"You have a crescent-shaped scar above your eyebrow – tiny, but definitely a giveaway if I ever saw one," he said plainly.

"Well, mate," Fred said to his twin, putting an arm around his shoulders and smiling broadly. "We'll just have to come up with something harder for next time – maybe a make-up charm."

"Nah – that's way too obvious," George replied, the two of the walking off together plotting as Molly, Ron and Percy stood and gawked after them.

"Did they just...?" Molly asked.

"Yep," Ron said with a swallow. "I honestly don't know what that's all about. Those two have been plotting things all day. I hope they aren't playing Christmas pranks."

"They will. Deducing from previous experiences with those two, it is quite obvious that they are attempting to ruin our lovely Christmas," Molly stated as she moved around the kitchen in a tizzy.

"Well, I have to head home to see to Penelope. She has been irritable from her pregnancy these past few days," Percy announced.

"Henpecked," Ron teased lightly.

Scowling, Percy left the kitchen, leaving Molly and Ron to sort out all of the silverware together as Ron waited for Julia. She had been shopping for Christmas presents with Ginny and his niece Lily, and he and Harry had volunteered to organize the Christmas party with Molly. Harry was currently at Grimmauld Place, ensuring that the numerous guest rooms in the overly large house were suitable to housing people.

"I'm almost done with the silverware, Ron," his mother said patiently. "When I'm finished, you can take it over to Grimmauld Place and check up on Harry while you're there."

"Alright, Mum," Ron grumbled.

"And make sure that you're father is decorating the house appropriately – nothing too garish and extreme, you hear?" she added.

Ron snorted. As if he would know what was garish to his mother – he was male. Shaking his head, he picked up the silverware case and walked outside with it before Apparating into the park and walking over the road to the house that was still under the Fidelius charm, despite the war being long over.

"Harry, are you in?" Ron called up the halls.

"Yeah, I'm up here, mate!" was Harry's muted reply.

Ron deposited the silverware in the large dinning room and went up two flights of stairs in the huge house. This was Harry and Ginny's second house. The two, along with their daughter, preferred to live in the house they had built in Godric's Hollow where Harry's parents had once lived. He found Harry in the last room on that floor instructing his house-elf on the state of the bed sheets.

"How are things on this front?" Ron asked.

"Bloody boring," Harry muttered. "Although, it's a good sight better than shopping with the girls all day," he added dryly. "Have you heard from Hermione?"

"Not since she told us she was coming," Ron replied. "I was going to stop in at Hogwarts before the end of the day, but I Percy said that it was around Mid-Year exams, so she probably has a lot on her plate, and I would just serve as a distraction."

"Git," Harry muttered.

"True, but he's right I think, mate. I don't want to annoy Hermione when she stressed like that," Ron said, remembering their schooling years together, and Hermione's reaction to being annoyed while she was stressed. There were some mistakes that even Ron had learned when it came to their best friend.

"Yeah," Harry said with a shiver.

"I'll write to her," Ron said with finality, although both he and Harry knew that he would do nothing of the sort.

They left the upstairs rooms and went to the kitchen to grab butterbeer before going in search of Arthur, who was doing an exceptional job of decorating the house without the instruction of a woman. Actually, he was doing better without the pressure of having Molly nag him the entire time. There was the Minister for Magic, hanging tinsel, baubles, and various other Christmas decorations around a house. But then again he had done it before he was Minister and would likely continue to despite his significant rise in position.

"How is it going there, Dad?" Ron asked, fulfilling Molly's wishes.

"Better than it would be with your mother around," he replied as he added the star to the decorated Christmas tree in the large sitting room. "I thought she'd have gone shopping with the girls."

"She was too busy bossing around Fred and George," Ron grumbled. "Not to mention me and Percy."

"Percy does what your mother wants without complaint," Arthur reminded him with a smile as he stepped back to admire his handiwork.

"Goody-two-shoes," Ron said under his breath, with Harry nodding in agreement beside him with a grin.

"Did you boys hear that Severus will be joining us this year?" Arthur asked nonchalantly, looking around at them.

Ron scowled for a moment at the mention of his least favourite professor while at Hogwarts. He still had no idea how the man had become the Headmaster, or how Hermione could stand working for him. "No, and I think I would have preferred not to have heard," he said with a pout.

Harry chuckled at his best friend's immaturity. He had long gotten over hating Snape, and had come to respect the man, mutually agreeing to remain neutral with him. "Oh, come on, Ron – he's not that bad," he insisted.

"You always say that," he huffed. "Everyone always says that, but good guy or not, he will always be a git."

"He probably feels the same way about you," Arthur said dryly, making Harry snigger at his reddening best friend.

Ron decided to make a hasty exit of the room then and went to the kitchen, disposing of his empty bottle. Just as he sat down at the table, an owl flew in and deposited a letter in front of him before flying away without waiting for a response. He cracked the seal and opened it, a smile appearing on his face when he saw the familiar, precise cursive, penned neatly by Hermione's own hand.

Dear Ron and Harry,

I would like to invite you to the Yule Ball with both Ginny and Julia, and if you like, bring along Arthur and Molly. I am sure that we can get a few of the house-elves to baby-sit Lily in my chambers for a while so that you can enjoy yourselves. I will be marking exams all this week and figured that I had best send you a letter while I have time to remember. I hope everyone is alright, and I look forward to seeing you in about a week hopefully.

Much Love,

Hermione

Ron folded the letter back up and headed upstairs to tell Harry and his dad about the Yule Ball invitation. He was sure that his father would have already received an invitation, but to be sure, he wanted to double check. They weren't in the sitting room, but after a little while searching, he did find them up about three flights of stairs in the rooms checking on the house-elf.

"I got a letter from Hermione," he explained.

Harry grinned. "Well, that explains why you're all happy again," he teased, making Ron blush a deep shade of red.